We were fortunate to have prebooked our trip on the Eurostar from London to Paris, so last Saturday we embarked on our journey by train. It is a lovely trip but we wished that they would make some sort of announcement when you are actually going in the tunnel, under the Channel. Our apartment was near The Louvre, in the 1st arrondisement and we had 5 flights of stairs to WALK up, that’s right, no lift – and 114 stairs. With 3 suitcases plus hand luggage etc, it was very interesting! However after our five days the walk to the top of the stairs was much easier and achieved without huffing and puffing (as much). We had a small balcony – small table and only 2 chairs –and we had to climb out of our bedroom window to access it.
The view wasn’t that picturesque, mainly rooftops and chimneys but it was still nice to sit outside at the end of the day, and for breakfast. We had amazing weather – sunny every day we were there. We still haven’t had a day where we have had to put on a raincoat or use an umbrella. Even in London, there wasn’t any rain.
Our first adventure in Paris was a “If these walls could talk” walking tour. The tour group is called Paris Muse and they aim some of their tours at children . We had a personal tour ie just us and tour guide “Carrie”. She introduced us to the history of Paris and showed us interesting sculptures, features of buildings etc.
Our first adventure in Paris was a “If these walls could talk” walking tour. The tour group is called Paris Muse and they aim some of their tours at children . We had a personal tour ie just us and tour guide “Carrie”. She introduced us to the history of Paris and showed us interesting sculptures, features of buildings etc.
The boys had compasses and a workbook that they had to work through and find clues to take us to the next destination.
We ended at Notre Dame Cathedral where Carrie taught us how to read stories contained within some stained glass windows. 
It was a fascinating afternoon and a great introduction to Paris. The next day I had a macaron cooking class, so we all took off to the 18th arrondisement, early in the morning. Whilst I was doing the class, Iain and the boys wandered around the area of Montmarte.
and visited Sacre-Coeur the Roman Catholic church located on the highest point of Paris.
My macaron class was good fun – we made two different types – chocolate and plain – with 3 different fillings - raspberry, salted caramel and chocolate.
We then filled the macarons with the various fillings and also tried combining the fillings eg salted caramel with chocolate or chocolate with raspberry. The chocolate ones were the first we made and you will see by the photo that they didn’t turn out as well as they should have because we discovered the laser thermometer wasn’t working properly. The second batch (plain ones) were perfect. The photo below was after they had travelled for 2 hours and got bumped around so not as good, as when I left the cooking school. 
There were just 4 of us doing the class – a Kiwi, a French woman, and 2 Australians – the other girl from Australia lives in Melbourne and works for “Koko Black” ! For those who don’t know, Koko Black is a must visit Chocolate store in Melbourne. In the afternoon we had our second walking tour – this time “Muse Clues “ – our tour guide this time was Mary.
Both of the tour guides that we had, are Americans living in Paris and they also have PhD’s – so very knowledgeable and great with children. The tour was based at The Louvre and again the boys had workbooks to complete. Mary also does a Da Vinci tour so when booking it, I explained Nicholas’ fascination with Leonardo and she was able to combine some features of both tours. 
From the answers that the boys gathered it formed a french phrase which they then had to use to obtain a ‘treasure’ that had been left for them in a secret location. The treasure was a game about Paris. 
It was lovely for Nicholas to finally see the real Mona Lisa painting – and it was larger than what we expected. Apparently it used to be displayed next to some huge paintings which made it look really small but it is now displayed on a wall by itself , and behind glass. As the ash cloud had upset a lot of visitors plans to Paris, Mary explained to us that we were extremely lucky to get so close to the Mona Lisa – usually the room she is displayed in, is full (approx 400 people) and there would have only been 30 or so, when were there.
To Be Continued............................
Andrew drove us to Dayton airport for our flight to Paris via Washington. We lost a few hours along the way as we left Washington at 5.30pm and it was a 7 hour flight but it was 7am when we arrived in Paris!
We thought it was such a nice idea that deckchairs were provided in the park areas - until someone came to collect money for them - they are charged by the hour! We just hadn't seen the signs.
The "Quote of the Day" belonged to Nicholas on seeing the guards outside Buckingham Palace
We saw our first squirrel – sorry Lochie we didn’t have our camera on us at the time! Also lots of pretty birds.
I had never realised that they sell groceries as well, so it was interesting to wander the aisles, check out prices and types of food available. Bananas were 49c per pound, iceberg lettuces 50c & 16 inch pizzas $8.49.
We set off early to drive down to the Amish country – Ohio has the largest Amish community in USA. It was really cold – 0 C. The country side is beautiful but also varied. Some areas are flat and others hilly but very green compared to what we have left behind in Australia - and beautiful trees. The flowering pear is particularly beautiful.
There are so many primitive styled shops, country homewares and food shops in Berlin.
We lunched at a restaurant run by the Amish and whilst in there, waiting for our food, it started to snow lightly. Like 4 idiots we ran outside to feel and taste it while everyone in the dining area watched us through the windows. Someone explained that we were Australians and don’t see snow! 
After having snow on the Friday, Saturday turned out to be a beautiful sunny day - still cool and perfect for having a buggy ride, more shopping and enjoying looking around.
Andrew had actually made some snowballs from the last snow that they had and them in the freezer for us to throw at each other. They were no longer soft and fluffy but frozen hard so we threw them at the tree. 
Andrew and Nancy invited a few friends over on Sunday afternoon - to hear our accents! Now there is one thing we know for sure, is that we don't have any accents at all - everyone else does! Iain has had quite a few problems with people not understanding him at all. Of course it doesn't help when he uses terms like "it's a thumper", "starving lizards" or "go for your life"!
Not very many houses have fences around their yards - the neighbour is an exception and that is because they 'dog sit' at times for their family. It is easy to check out what your neighbours are doing in all directions. The lawns are lush and GREEN and at the moment, they will mow 2 or 3 times a week! Iain doesn't know how he would get on without a fence, you wouldn't know when to stop mowing!